A Do & Don’t List For Language Learners

Do you struggle with learning languages? How many times have you signed up for language classes and then stopped going? Have you ever thought that you might be doing something wrong? A lot of my students tend to hold very negative beliefs about their ability to learn a new language, and that might be one of the leading causes of their failure!

´ I am not good at languages! ´

´ I can´t learn English!´

´ I will never be able to speak fluently.´

Does it sound familiar? These types of statements are very negative and can limit your potential. Even though you might not have succeeded in the past, it does not mean you are not able to make progress.
First of all, stop being negative and instead of:

I am not good at languages – Try thinking: I struggled in the past…. Up until now I was not able to do that….

You need to be positive and believe you can learn. Focus on positive intention and remember that your attitude affects your behavior.

Learning a language is a complicated process. This is why I have created the following Do & Don’t List, in order to shine a strong light on the good things and inform you about what you shouldn’t waste your time on.

DO:

1. Change your mindset!
2. Believe you can learn!
3. Appreciate your progress!
4. Work hard! NO pain, NO gain!
5. Be open-minded!
6. Accept mistakes; they help you learn!
7. Do your homework!
8. Study outside the classroom!
9. Download mobile apps to help you learn faster!
10. Read books and the news in the new language!
11. Watch movies and TV series in the language!
12. Sing songs in the language!
13. Learn by doing!
14. Get your hands dirty! Experiment with the language, try it out!
15. Take notes in the language!
16. Have fun!
17. Use a monolingual dictionary!
18. Think in the language!
19. Take risks! Not sure how to say something? Take a risk and say it!
20. Buy a good self –study grammar and vocabulary book and study on your own too!
21. Wake up!!! Participate in all activities in class!
22. Keep the new vocabulary in a notebook and use it in phrases or sentences.
23. Speak as much as you can!
24 . Make connections!
25. Take responsibility for your learning!

DON´T:
1. Be negative!
2. Underestimate your potential!
3. Refuse homework!
4. Blame your teacher or the coursebook if you are not making progress!
5. Be quiet in the classroom!
6. Translate all the sentences into your language!
7. Waste any opportunity to speak the language!
8. Rely on other people when it comes to speaking!
9. Stress!
10. Complicate rules!
11. Over-analyze!
12. Compare the target language with your mother tongue!
13. Get impatient!
14. Rush the learning process!
15. Waste your time!
16. Use your mother tongue in the classroom!
17. Be lazy!
18. Let others discourage you!
19. Waste your money on a bad teacher!
20. Take too long breaks between classes!
21. Forget to revise vocabulary!
22. Let go any chance to practice!
23. Be inactive!
24. Be shy!
25. Give up! Just keep on trying, learning a language takes time.

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